


repeat until death

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Happy Ending, I Do Not Care About Canon Lore, TRoS Spoilers, The Rise of Skywalker spoilers, outside pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21881731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Ben," Anakin said. "No Jedi has ever saved a loved one from death."
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 78





	repeat until death

He watched his grandson crawl toward the dead girl. Rey. The savior of the galaxy. He watched as he dragged a broken leg behind him, ragged breaths contained behind clenched teeth. Ben would get to her. It came clear and translucid to Anakin, like a vision superimposed over the present. Unavoidable and set in stone; the undeterred will of a Skywalker. But mostly the persistent ache of a stretched hand rejected time again and the memory of her voice coiled tightly around a name long unheard--a name that had become painful in its absence. Maybe had become piercing long before. 

Now the girl lay dead on the ground, cold and alone-- Now Ben had reached her. 

Cradling her body close to him, Ben held her still in his arms for a moment. He had known what he would find, climbed the pit unfeeling and devoid of her presence--her unique presence, bright and bewitching. And for once before her, he found himself rid of answers, wanting, searching in the desolate space around him for somebody--anyone to help him.

But there had been no one for such a long time. 

And in that befouled place, blurry among the ashes and dust of a not-yet-risen empire, clear in the utter silence that followed when the world--Ben's world, for above ships still battled, blazing among the stars--stopped in its axis as the breath that had stuttered and frozen on Rey's lips, Ben Solo buried his face on her still neck, eyes wide and frantic as his mind stumbled to walk with one leg, half of him torn apart. She had been part of him since Jakku, sometimes dormant, sometimes unwilling, gone from hate to understanding, always  _ there.  _ His soul had learnt hers, and now recoiled useless as it was bereft of it, unmoored. 

But not all of him was useless.

His flesh had knitted itself back together under her hand, his pain soothed by her power. 

He knew what he had to do. And he knew he had just enough strength to do it. What came after would not matter, for there would be no after. 

Anakin watched as he closed his eyes, focused. The Jedi had failed Ben Solo since before his birth, they could not help him. Anakin could feel their anxious presence fluttering, hovering by around him. They knew what was happening, what would happen. Not all of them cared, but Luke stood impotent as he watched his pupils: fated to share but merely a moment together, only to be split apart forever in life. 

But Anakin had been something other than a Jedi. Anakin still felt the path to his grandson's heart open and waiting, yearning for his guidance. He had avoided him whenever he called for Vader, but now it was not Vader that he needed. 

He kneeled in front of Ben. In his concentration, he only sensed him when Anakin put his hand above his, on Rey's body. 

Ben's hand twitched when he opened his eyes and met Anakin's gaze. For a moment he recoiled, pulled Rey closer to him and away from the intrusion. Confusion pooled in his warm eyes, the more expressive for the stoic face were they settled. A myriad of emotions followed, each one harder to face than the last. Reproach, anger, pain. So much pain. 

"Grandfather?" he said. 

Anakin nodded, watched as Ben blinked, eyes brighter than before. His eyebrows drew together. Anakin spoke before he could, they had no time to waste if this was to work. "Ben," he said. "No Jedi has ever saved a loved one from death." 

His nostrils flared, hesitation at once replaced by determination. "I'm no Jedi." His voice shook, anger flaring. There was only resignation and something close to hope when he added, "I have to do this." 

And resolutely he closed his eyes again, gathered his life force around him to redirect it into the girl. But, "Ben," Anakin called again, closed his hand on his shoulder to make him look at him. "You'll die." 

His lips quivering on the words, Ben said, "I know." 

"Well," said Anakin. "I was no Jedi either." And moved both his hands to rest on his grandson's shoulders, feeling the tremors running through his battered body and, when his focus returned to the girl in his arms, replenishing his life force as he gave it away. 

It went beyond Jedi or Sith, of course. What Anakin witnessed as he felt his strength seeping into Ben and leaving him. It went beyond anything he had ever known, and still was so familiar as to render him speechless. He had to make an effort to say, before Rey woke, "You have surpassed me now," smiling as Ben rounded his eyes. "But do not let that stop you. You have your whole life ahead of you." 

"But how can I…" He clutched Rey tighter, his body curved around her like it was only she that kept him from collapsing. 

"That is something I do not know. It was too late for me to keep living after Luke saved me. You will have to set the precedent." 

And he disappeared before Ben could form words. Ben would not hold him to it, he knew. For in a minute Rey's hand closed over his, and Ben turned to her in disbelief; in silence as she smiled, called his name. He yet looked at her as if either of them would vanish, committing her face to memory like it hadn't already been imprinted there for months, before Rey pressed their lips together. 

The road ahead would be hard, untraveled before. Ben would have to find his purpose, live as a survivor of more than war. But where there was time there was hope. And in a galaxy as wide as it was crowded, two lonely people had found each other. 

The last thing Anakin saw before leaving was the smile of Ben Solo. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't sleep until I got this out of my system. You can tell this movie destroyed me when I cry about my own writing.....ha...ha...ha


End file.
